4 Great Argumentative Essay Writing Suggestions: How To Polish Your Paper

Writing an argumentative essay is hard for some students. If you’ve never written this kind of paper before, it can seem confusing. Keep reading this page for tips on how you can ace this project! Once you know what to do, it’s actually quite easy. If you have written other kinds of essays before, it won’t take you long to grasp the format of this one. Most essays are argumentative by nature, trying to persuade a point to the reader.

Tips for writing argumentative essays

You should start by finding a topic. This is one of the most important first steps because you can’t start researching or writing until you know what to write about. Check with your teacher to see if he has an assigned topic or if you are free to choose one yourself.

Another important thing to keep in mind is that your first draft doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, some of the best writing has come from horrible first drafts. Thankfully this assignment isn’t as long as a dissertation or a novel, but even short writing projects like this can use some editing to better the first draft.

Ways to polish your finished paper

When you’re done writing, it’s time for some editing and polishing. You might think it’s a waste of time to rearrange the words you’ve already written, but editing can be the difference between an A+ and an F. Good editing will make your essay more readable, succinct and interesting. Here are four ways you can do that:

1. 1. Reread for repetition. You might find you have sentences that say essentially the same thing in different words—pick the better one and delete the other. Also look for unnecessary words such as very, nearly, and other adverbs.
2. 2. Don’t use big words just to sound smart. If you have any words like gregarious or effervescent, just use sociable or lively instead. Often, you can mistake the connotation of unfamiliar words, or it can trip up your reader.
3. 3. Let someone else read it. Often, another person can see mistakes you miss.
4. 4. Lastly, you should check all your research and citations. This might be a no-brainer to some, but you’d be surprised how many students forget to do it. You’ll definitely find it worth the time because it’s easy to a mistake to slip in that can land you a lower grade.